


Take Flight

by FlyinIsAnArtNotAPractice



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 19:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18212690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyinIsAnArtNotAPractice/pseuds/FlyinIsAnArtNotAPractice
Summary: When Tim was young, he had imagined flying to be exhilarating. He had imagined wind rushing through his feathers, to soar and glide like the birds that he envied so much outside his window. He had imagined it to be joyful and wondrous.He had not imagined it to be flailing in free fall as his ship became a rapidly shrinking dot and the ground to become a rapidly approaching surface.





	Take Flight

The staff slammed into Tim’s ribs, and he wobbled backwards, arms flailing, reaching for the rails of the ship edge, only to grasp empty air. His face twisted into a look of surprise, then horror, and the mercenary sneered as he tumbled from the flying ship.

When Tim was young, he had imagined flying to be exhilarating. He had imagined wind rushing through his feathers, to soar and glide like the birds that he envied so much outside his window. He had imagined it to be joyful and wondrous.

He had not imagined it to be flailing in free fall as his ship became a rapidly shrinking dot and the ground to become a rapidly approaching surface. 

A voice in his head, possibly his own, screeched at him, ‘’ OPEN YOUR WINGS YOU USELESS IDIOT!’’  
Because Tim’s conscience really knew his priorities. Tim flared his wings out, like he had imagined doing countless times. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he was hurtling towards the ground at some extremely fast speed, his wings snapped back painfully against the rush of air. And now he was gonna die a painful death, becoming a Tim-cake against the ground, with the added bonus of a feathery topping. Otherwise known as his wings. As this delightful thought passed through his mind, Tim closed his eyes and just hoped his mother didn’t have to see the body.

And then something slammed into him. 

When Jason had decided to go for a stroll, he had assumed that it meant walking. With his two feet on the ground. There was nothing wrong with flying, of course, but Jason was hoping for a chance for fresh air that didn’t involve actually being in the air. He had expected too much. The sunny afternoon had been peaceful for around maybe ten minutes when a shadow had blotted out the sun. Which wasn’t very ominous, Jason’s stroll took him under an airway, with ships passing through every few minutes. No, the ominous bit might have been the high-pitched screaming. Of, you know, someone falling through the air.

The someone, Jason deduced, had wings. And apparently didn’t know how to use them as they were still hurtling through the air towards Jason’s face at an unpleasantly fast speed. Jason sighed, of course he couldn’t have one teensy weensy little walk before some idiot needed his help. Again. But unfortunately his so pure heart couldn’t watch this new moron flatten themselves onto the ground, so with a hearty groan, Jason spread his wings. And jumped into the air.

When Tim had judged that he had not smashed into the ground and turned into a Tim-cake, he peeked open one eye. And quickly squeezed it shut again because he had obviously died and gone to heaven and was currently being held by an angel. But apparently that peek had not gone unnoticed as someone, possibly the angel, cleared their throat.   
‘’You have wings, but can’t fly? What type of useless Avian are you! How have you been given the pass to fly on ships! How did you pass the Flying Test! Have you lived your entire life under a rock! What is up with your clothes! This isn’t regulation flight gear! Who the heck are you? Are you a spy!’’ 

Tim felt the angel-but-maybe-not-a-real-angel-because-it-just-called-him-a-spy lift him up, as if it was gonna toss Tim. 

Tim opened his eyes and scrambled to find a handhold, just in case he did continue his lovely freefall through the sky. ’’WAIT! I’m not a spy! I just don’t know how to fly!’’

‘’And those wings were glued to your back just for giggles. There’s no Avian with wings that can’t fly,’’ the angel glared at Tim. By now, Tim figured that the angel wasn’t really an angel. The spy accusation and glaring was probably the first indication. The second clue was the fact that the man’s face was horrifyingly familiar.

“Jason Todd! Oh my gods. Oh no. I am going to get eviscerated.’’ Because the not-angel holding Tim was Jason Todd. The Captain of the Guard of House Wayne. AKA, the number one enemy of Tim’s family. Probably the evil creatures who hired the mercenaries that attacked Tim’s ship. Vile beings. According to Tim’s father at least. Jason narrowed his eyes at Tim.

“Oh, I assume you are a member of the Wayne household then? If you know who I am. My apologies, I shall return you to your roost,” and with a tilt of his wings, Jason turned in the direction he had saw the ship head in. How on Earth did this little Avian know who he was? Lord Wayne had assured that no one knew his latest edition to the guard, in his final attempt to eradicate House Drake. If this Avian knew who he was, then Lord Wayne needed to brush up on his lying skills. In the meantime, Jason better get rid of the little twerp. It looked surprisingly familiar, but Jason couldn’t remember why. Although, it was chattering away at his face, waving arms and gesticulating at his wings in a energetic manner. Suddenly the noise stopped, and Jason looked back down at the fake Avian to find it glaring back. The moment it realized Jason had given it a modicum of attention, the chattering returned. Did it really need this much attention? Flightless Avians were a lot more high-maintenance then Jason had imagined. 

“This is misconduct of the highest order! I demand you return me to the ground! Or my ship! Foul creature! I am-” Jason definitely regretted tuning in to listen to the little guy. The nutjob clearly had no idea what he was going off on.  
“Okay, twerp. Listen up. I know you aren’t of Wayne House. I don’t know where you think you’re going with the idea that you belong on a ship, because those things are only for royalty. And last I checked, royalty had bodyguards to follow their useless butts around. So you’re clearly some little shortstack wanna-be criminal attempting to play out some bad plan where you think I’ll fly you up to some ship so you can rob them blind. Not. Gonna. Happen.”

Tim could only stare in shock at Jason after the lengthy spiel. So the Captain of the Guard didn’t recognize the sole heir of his sworn enemy? Tim almost burst into laughter at the ridiculousness, but decided against it, seeing as he really couldn’t fly apparently and didn’t really fancy the idea of being dropped. But he did need to straighten Jason out, preferably without revealing his identity.

“Wow. Yea, uh, Mister Jason. Well, hate to break it to you, but I actually am royalty. A bunch of mercs attacked my ship and I got knocked off. And I really can’t fly.” Tim braced himself for the inevitable return fire of angry accusations, but surprisingly the giant captain only stared at him. Which was fine and all, but they were about to hit a tree and Jason really should gain some height, “Hey, Jason, by the way we’re about to hit a tree.”

Before the tiny flightless Avian had finished the sentence Jason had given a powerful flap of his wings, shooting them several feet straight up. But now he knew who this Avian was. Timothy Jackson Drake. The prince of House Drake. The mercenary attack had given the little creature away. Because very few mercenaries would willingly attack a royal ship, much less one of high prestige such as the Drakes’. But those mercenaries had been hired by Lord Wayne himself, and Jason was the back-up plan. Jason grinned evilly. Oh, this job had been far too easy. Actually, Jason thought to himself, this job had been a little too easy. Almost as if Timothy had played into his arms on purpose. Jason glanced down again at the Avian in his arms, only to find a branch. His heart skipped a beat. Of course it couldn’t be this simple. Groaning, Jason thought back to the file he had been given about Prince Timothy. And stifled a sigh as he remembered the words written in bright red ink on the first page, “Flightless, master of deception and the bo-staff.”

Escaping Jason’s loose hold as he nearly crashed into the tree was a simple trick, nearly child’s play in Tim’s opinion. A simple body-switch and Tim was sitting in a tree, and a branch was sitting in Jason’s rapidly disappearing body.  
“Gods above, that man sure can fly,” he whispered in awe, then quickly shook himself. Said man was also probably planning to murder Tim, so he better get his butt out of the tree. Short hops landed Tim safely on the ground, and he took off towards the cover of the forest at a sprint. Jason probably had noticed the nice Tim-sized branch, and Tim really needed to get back to the ship so he could launch his counter strike. Fortunately, whoever had hired the mercs to attack his ship, clearly didn’t have the knowledge to distinguish between the many Drake ships. Only a fool would attack the Redbird, Tim’s personal battle/travel carrier. If the Waynes really wanted to destroy the Drakes, then they had better luck with his parent’s ridiculously extravagant ginormous catamaran. Unfortunately for the mercenaries on his now crew-less ship, Tim had designed the Redbird himself. And it came with a Summon button. Also an eject one. Which Tim pressed with a certain degree of delight. Those mercs had only managed to defeat Tim because they had overloaded the Redbird’s radar, and snuck onto his ship to catch him by surprise. But now they would be given a nice surprise, a surprise flight into the vortex of air created by the high-speed ship.

Another few minutes of ducking beneath branches found a clearing farther in the woods. He hoped that Jason had landed on the ground and was under the trees, because summoning the Redbird generally involved a giant red ship appearing from the sky and giving away Tim’s location. Within a few seconds, a familiar red dot grew into a familiar red ship as it landed in front of Tim. And Tim almost would have escaped Captain Jason Todd, but the whistling of something sharp hurtling past his ear made him stop cold. Tim turned slowly, well aware of who was standing behind him.   
“What are the chances that I could outpay the Waynes? How much was this job, one hundred, two hundred silvers?” Tim held his hands out in front of him placatingly, as Jason looked at him in surprise.

Did the little twerp just try to bribe him? Jason was very confused. Timothy’s guess hadn’t been that far off, Lord Wayne had only paid Jason 150 silvers, but promised another 200 if Jason could provide evidence of the job being completed. Three hundred and fifty silvers could insure that Jason didn’t need to take a job for another year or so. He lifted his crossbow again.

“WAIT! No, I’m serious! Jason you’re obviously just hired muscle. When was the last time you lived, not just survived!” Tim slowly stepped forward, “ I can offer you a job! Not a job like you know, but a permanent one that pays better.”  
Jason scoffed, “What would this job be, Mister Drake? Don’t think you can fool me, I know that you are a master of deceit.”

“Teach me how to fly. Don’t give me that look.” Jason was staring at Tim flatly, but Tim ignored that and continued, “You clearly are an expert flier. I don’t know many people who could have caught me in free fall without sending both of us plummeting sideways. Or who could be headed straight for a tree and avoid it by shooting straight up. Or even get into the air in the first place without a running start. Or-”  
Jason interrupted him before Tim could go on, “Look, I appreciate your flattery, but I need the money. And also Lord Wayne would probably have my head if I went and betrayed him like this.”

Belatedly, Jason realized that he had just given away the fact that he had even considered the job, and mentally groaned at the slow grin that was spreading across Timothy’s face.  
“So it’s a deal then! Sweet! I’ll pay you one hundred right now to insure you don’t stab me in the back, but for every lesson I’ll pay you another fifty. Plus you’ll be under Drake protection, which is loads better than Wayne protection. Trust me on that. I mean look at me, I’m still alive even without the ability to fly!” Tim chattered away, flapping a hand at Jason as he jumped onto the deck of the Redbird. Jason followed him, less enthusiastically. Tim powered up the Redbird controls, humming angrily at the damage the mercs had managed to do on his beloved ship, then glanced over at Jason. “So, how did you meet Lord Wayne?”


End file.
